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a journalist went to one of the meetings with attorney general eric holder. what did she learn? what can she tell us. hello, it's high noon here in the east. 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." more trouble for the plains states. not just tornadoes, it's flooding that could prove most deadly, in fact. developing, new video just in, showing you the extent of the flooding in oklahoma city now. the storm system that unleashed multiple tornadoes friday also brought with it heavy rains, leaving behind this incredible scene of widespread flooding. getting new video of the damage left behind after those tornadoes tore across the region. officials are assessing all of the damage today. several homes and other structures completely destroyed. at least nine people were killed by the tornadoes, more than 100 people taken to the hospital. more than 100,000 people in oklahoma and missouri are right now without power. but this is what is left of a weather channel vehicle caught up in one of the tornadoes. pretty frightening situation for our reporter, mike bettis and

his two photographers when the twister, listen to this, threw their vehicle about 200 yards off the highway and right into a field. >> i don't know what to say. i'm speechless. the scariest moment of my life. never been through it anything like it before. my life flashed before ply eyes. we were floating, tumbling. we tumbled i don't know how many times. at least six, eight times we tumbled and airborne one point we were floating and we weren't tumbling and we came down hard. >> mike says he and his crew suffered minor injuries about they are going to observe kay. frightened for sure. let's bring in janis huff. janis, let's talk about the areas that you're watching right now. >> alex, right now, generally the same areas from last night and then a bit to the east. parts of arkansas, seeing considerable flash flooding. remember a lot of the areas saw anywhere from three to seven inches of rain in the last 24 hours. so flooding problems the biggest deal for today.

however, there could be isolated tornadoes that will develop. not the activity we saw yesterday. but there will be some severe weather breaking out across the plains states and across the mid-mississippi river valley and into the ohio valley today. there's a threat of damaging winds, hail, and also isolated tornadoes. not as many, maybe not as large. anywhere from killeen, texas, dallas, memphis, nashville, up to cleveland. maybe even near the detroit area that could see some of the severe weather. yes, flash flooding is a main concern across the region. like i said, they've seen quite a bit of heavy rainfall. tomorrow, the threat of severe weather shifts farther to the east. that will include the d.c., baltimore area, philadelphia, new york city, up to west of boston into parts of southern new england. there's the threat of those maybe isolated tornadoes but mainly flash flooding. gusty wins, damaging winds, and also large hail. so it will finally shift to the

east. the problem has been over the last several days the storms haven't been moving eastward. the storm system's sitting over the same area. and that's why we've seen most of that activity sit over oklahoma and parts of the plains and midwest. >> but you know, i know they call it tornado alley, but is this normal? >> well, it's not typically normal to get so many outbreaks within a couple of weeks. this is tornado season. generally starts to wind down in june, but may is the peak of the season. up until may it had been very quiet because the weather had been cold. we're seeing the proper conditions for tornadoes to develop. finally come together across the area. which typically sees the worst types of tornadoes, like what we saw in moore over a week ago. and the tornados that we saw over rest of oklahoma and last night. what's been happening is, is that the weather pattern has been stagnant. generally, we see the weather patterns move from west to east rather swiftly. but there's been a blocking

pattern that is set up, not allowing all of this weather to progress to the east. it's relaxing and now we'll start to move to the east. as it moves to east, it's not as powerful a system as what we've seen as been sitting there across tornado alley over the last several days but dangerous for the east coast tomorrow. >> janis huff, i appreciate you putting in overtime with us. as janis mentioned, flash flooding now the main concern for today. heavy rainfall adding to challenges for residents and officials this afternoon. let's go to nbc's janet shamlian in oklahoma city. how bad are the flash floods? what about the impact on the recovery, cleanup efforts? >> reporter: first of all, we have to say you saw -- we pretty much saw this storm play out live last night. but what people didn't see is that, after midnight, between midnight and 6:00 this morning, we had as much as another seven inches of rain and that's the reason that we're having these problems with flooding. as much as four feet of floodwaters in some parts of

oklahoma city and that's going to continue. it's a stark contrast to where i am, which is downtown, oklahoma city. dry and cloudless right now. but they are dealing on the perimeter with floodwaters. we saw them for ourselves, trying to get out of the airport after the storms passed. we had floodwaters, and this is immediately after the storms, before the additional seven inches of reason. up to the middle of the car. the harrowing story from mike bettis. today's a day for taking stock of the damage. we've got up to nine dead now, as you indicated. more than 75 people injured. 80,000 people out of power. but 200,000 across a four-state area, includes arkansas, illinois, missouri. and the scenes like last night looked just like this. >> reporter: from the dashboard of a storm chaser's car, the speed and power of friday's tornado outbreak is undeniable.

bales of hay sent flying across the road as the twfter ripped apart buildings. >> pretty nasty right here. >> reporter: earlier from the air, the approaching thunderstorms warned of what was about to be unleashed. >> the entire line here has got rotation in it and each one of these could produce tornadoes. >> reporter: produce, they did. several twisters popping up throughout the oklahoma city area. >> this is a very violent tornado. people that pass this, they need to be underground in the tornado shelters. >> reporter: those unable to take cover were sitting targets for the tornadoes. >> a terrible situation going on in instate 40 and interstate 35 right now. multiple cars that have crashed. >> reporter: a mother and her young daughter were killed when their vehicle was tossed from the interstate. at least three others were killed, including one person in el reno, oklahoma, where this twister tore across the landscape. the storms knocked out power to

more than 80,000 customers and turned city streets into rushing rivers. drivers forced to abandon cars in the rising waters. >> power lines down, trees in the middle of the road, flooded up to your waist. it's all bad. >> a lot of trees down. just destruction everywhere. >> reporter: the powerful storm that moved into missouri spawning even more tornados. knocking power out to thousands, and ripping the roof off of this home in a st. louis suburb. damage and destruction as tornado alley, once again, lived up to its name. my colleagues at weather channel say this afternoon we could get the numbers on the strength and power of the tornadoes. for a lot of people it doesn't matter. it's the second fatal tornado here in 11 days and it has taken beyond the physical damage, a psychological toll. back to you. >> you can imagine. i mean it's terrifying to look at all of the video, let alone live through it.

thank you for the latest from there. storm chasers who got very close to the eye of the storm are showing us how powerful the tornadoes were. we spoke with bret and brandon, two storm chasers who shot this incredible video of the storm touching down. check it out. >> i was just trying to get us to safety as quick as i can, you know. i was very nervous. we were in a bad spot. as we were heading south i was getting a better feeling in my stomach we were going to be okay. >> it got intense. though the tornado passed behind us, the inflow into the tornado ripped apart a barn right in front of us and threw debris from the barn right at our car. we really had nowhere to go. we weren't in danger of getting hit by the tornado itself, but we had nowhere to escape from the debris being thrown at us. we had to stop and bunker down and prepare. >> it's like they had absolutely no good options there. why did so many people get in their cars in the face of the tornados? we'll talk with mayor of

oklahoma city about that. plus, what's being done with all of the flash flooding following storms at the bottom of the hour. ahead of yet another congressional hearing this week in the irs controversy, more trouble for the agency. after new video surfaces showing employees practicing a dance routine at one of the irs offices outside of washington, d.c. take a look. >> undisclosed location, world famous dance instructor -- brought together a ragtag group of executives. their dream, to become the next great dance sensation. >> nbc's white house correspondent peter alexander's at the white house. okay, peter. what is this video all about? is it a joke? >> reporter: well, they made a series of the videos, irs would tell you by producing videos it helps cut down on travel costs. but they acknowledged in an e-mail to me a short time ago this was not a good thing. it doesn't reflect well on them. we'll put up on the screen exact language of the irs, described

it as quote unacceptable and inappropriate use of government funds. this specific video, alex, as you saw, a dance competition parody for the sake of the dance moves you saw, it was a parody, at least in their eyes. this cost about $1600. it was produced for a 2010, august 2010, irs conference that was taking place in anaheim, california. the reason that conference may be familiar to those of you who have paid attention to some of the videos that have come out that have demonstrated wasteful spending, that's the same conference where a star trek video was also produced. that video and another gilligan's island video that we have talked about in the past together combined to cost $60,000. this came public because it was requested by the house ways and means committee, specifically the oversight subcommittee there that requested it. there will be hearings on the topic of wasteful spending

within the irs this thursday. the audit itself was due out or shall be released tuesday. >> so the timing really couldn't be worse. i mean, is this going to prompt further disciplinary actions of irs officials? considering you have the tea party target disclosure? >> reporter: it's a good question. we anticipate further disciplinary act for a variety of issues going on in the irs now. white house officials and treasury department have spoken publicly about the need to do a systemic review of this entire process. that was taking place, the targeting scandal specifically and now this wasteful spending scandal as well within the irs. those are in the works as we speak right now. we're going to hear from the irs acting head on monday for the first time. he will make some public statements as speaks before the house appropriation committee about the scandal. >> thank you. face-to-face with attorney general eric holder. we'll talk with the journalist who met with him and tells us

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front page politics and new this morning, president obama again calling on congress to take action to boost the economy. in his weekly address today, he touted almost 7 million jobs created and shrinking deficit but says congress needs to do more. >> we just got to keep going. because weave got more good jobs to create. more kids to educate. we've got more doors of opportunity to open for anyone who is willing to work hard enough to walk through those doors. >> president obama also said congress should put more americans to work, rebuilding crumbling bridges, just like the one that collapsed last week in washington state that you're seeing here. more details about the off the record meetings between journalists and attorney general eric holder. the conversations went on the

record with several journalists and news executives talking about what was discussed. >> they also expressed a commitment to making changes in the guidelines for issuing subpoenas and possible statutory changes in the privacy act. >> i mean, it's a beginning of a conversation. there are other conversations. i'm not sure anybody's satisfied until we know what happens but it was a starting point. >> joining me, staff reporter from mother jones, andy crull and susan page. you were there at the meeting. why did this meeting go on the record after a number of outlets, including nbc news, refused to attend because it was off the record. what was it about? about eric holder the attorney general trying to save his job? >> i think the justice department issued invitations for a meeting they said would be off the record and media lawyers could not be present. and the justice department eased up on both of those aspects.

ground rules were eased so that we were free to come out afterwards and talk about the gi gist of the conversation. in addition, media lawyers allowed to attend, which was reassuring because they have expertise when it comes to talking about the specifics how the justice department historically has gone after news organizations and handled controversial subpoenas, phone records of the associated press. >> you heard comments from colleague at "the washington post" and "wall street journal." do you think the attorney general made a convincing case as to why it's so important to investigate leaks to the press? >> you know, he discussed why these cases had gone forward against the associated press and fox news. but this was really more a discussion about whether the guidelines at the department of justice uses in dealing cases involving the news media, whether they need to be updated and whether the requirement for advanced notice of news organizations before subpoenas are executed, needs to be

tightened. so that was the thrust of the conversation. one other thing we talked about in the immediating i attended yesterday the backlog of freedom of information request, another concern, a separate concern, for a lot of news media organizations, including my own. >> the bottom line, your takeaway, was this about the attorney general trying to save his job? >> well, i think the -- i don't know what their motivation was. i think it was as we saw "wall street journal" say, a starting point, a first step. it's valuable to have conversations. we'll see what happens, conversations i guess are going to continue july 12th is the deadline that president obama gave the attorney general for giving him a report on what to do going forward. so it's a first step. but there's a long road ahead before we get to some resolution that we can judge, whether it made a difference or not. >> okay. andy in today's weekly address, the president said congress still has a lot to do but he touted five items on the economy, 7 million new jobs,

booming auto industry, shrinking deficit, slowing health care costs and stronger housing market. what are the chances of congress taking on anything before the break for summer? >> not showing signs on taking action on further measures that might boost the economy. for instance, looking at sequestration cuts that are still going into effect and really that could slow that economic recovery and dampen the tepid growth that we're seeing getting into the second half and near the end of the year. congress -- right now, they're debating issues on internet sales taxes, talking about immigration reform. but the economy is sort of plugging along on its own. but we're not hearing much discussion about what ways can congress further boost the economy. that just seem to be an issue right now. >> let's turn to the irs controversy, susan. we're seeing a new dance video of sorts released by a house committee investigating accusations of lavish spending

in southern california in 2010 at a conference. it features a woman trying to teach employees how to dance. here's part of that. >> here it is. >> i never signed up for this. >> i mean, you know, the acting commissioner says it was from, a quote, unfortunate vestige from a prior area. what do you think we'll hear tuesday? >> you can't make this stuff up. this would be a damaging -- even if the irs wasn't now immeshed in the much bigger scandal, and there are developments on that as well a "wall street journal" story about broadening the probe of this division of the irs saying that it was targeting individual donors to a conversation group for tax audits and imposing gift tax. this is a story that seems to be getting bigger, not smaller substantively. and have this silly dance video. it's not helpful to the irs. >> andy, can i ask about the

michele bachmann saga? not running for re-election next year. yesterday, jim graves who almost beat her last year, drops out of the race. why did he do that? >> because jim graves running against michele bachmann had a much better chance at winning. michele bachmann facing these investigations into campaign improprieties from her 2012 presidential campaign. her standing was weak. jim graves thought he could beat her, he almost did in 2012. with backman out of the race, this is a district mitt romney won by double digits in 2012 and graves doesn't stand as much of a chance against a run of the mill state republican lawmaker than he did against this firebrand like michele bachmann. what had gone -- what was a up for grabs district for democrats looks more and more like a seat that republicans can hold on to in 2014.

>> okay. andy and susan, always a pleasure. thanks, guys. the next big problem in oklahoma after latest round of tornadoes, coming up.h. by earning a degree in the field of counseling or psychology from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to make a difference in the lives of others. let's get started at capella.edu.

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with chantix and with the support system it worked for me. but i see a world bursting with opportunity,ople nervous. with ideas, with ambition. i'm thinking about china, brazil, india. the world's a big place. i want to be a part of it. ishares international etfs. emerging markets and single countries. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." developing now, new video to share of widespread flooding across the oklahoma city area. a severe storm system spawned multiple tornadoes during rush hour last night also unleashed fierce downpours, leading to the flooding situation. you can see it for yourself in

new aerial pictures. new video of the damage across the region. these are new pictures from the oklahoma city area. several homes and other structures are hearly dama lly or destroyed. yesterday's twitters killed nine, injured dozens more miles from where another monster tornado left 24 dead last week. as the oklahoma city area residents cope with flash flooding right now, lessons learned from surviving a massive tornado. from kfor showing miles of cars on oklahoma city area highways. those folks who are fleeing for safety in the midst of the storms. joining me now from oklahoma city is the city's mayor, mick cornett. let's talk about, first of all, flooding, flash flooding updates. tell me if your city's under water in any areas or the surrounding areas. >> you know, our city drains really well. once it stops raining. we had four hours of torrential

downpour and the flooding did get quite concerning. this morning, 99.9% of the city's probably fine. there's a few basements that are wet. we had some city buildings that had basement damage. for the most part our city doesn't have long-term flooding issues. it's just isolated areas. >> glad for that. how about power outages? >> i understand there are tens of thousands of people still without power. and keep in mind, they have been running behind schedule on that for two or three weeks now. so we have been getting help from outside utility companies from around the region. you know, they're getting that handle on that. some of the power was having to be restored from areas knocked out in the may 20th storm. i'm sure it's getting old to the utility companies. >> absolutely. like two steps forward, one step back. certainly the natural instinct would be, drive away from a storm, despite the danger of being harmed. you just want to get out of there. we're learning of two victims, a

mother and baby, killed in the suv, when it flipped out. you've got i-40, i-35 that got just bumper-to-bumper traffic as people tried to get away. what happened there? >> there was an unusually large amount of people on the roadways for reasons that are still unclear to me. the best way to avoid a tornado is to stay where you are, get as low as you can, and get as many walls between you and the storm as possible. usually that's interior closet or small room, you do that, you'll survive 999 out of 1,000 tornadoes. when you get in your car, you've taken away the safety precautions you should have taken. all bets are off at that point. a car's one of the worst places to be in a tornado. people should not have been trying to run aimlessly around the city trying to avoid a storm that could take off in a different direction and ultimately did. >> yeah. absolutely turn on a dime. but, did you hear about reports

from media and/or weathercasters saying get out? evacuate the area? we've heard there were reports like that. can you confirm that? >> i've heard that secondhand. i can't confirm it. >> okay. bottom line, with regard to backups, have you ever been in a situation like that yourself where you're on a road, you've got some traffic around you, and you see a storm like this coming your way. i mean, what is that like for people that are trapped in cars? >> now, i've not seen it. but you're basically helpless at that point. and you know, because i-40, i-35 are major corridors north and south from mexico come canada across the country from california to north carolina, you have some people that are just trying to drive through the community and might unknowingly drive into a tornado. i'm concerned that that may have happened to some people as well. if you're listening to recorded music and don't have the radio on, you might have no way of

knowing what looks like rain might be a tornado. so, i wouldn't be surprised that there's some of that in some of the death total. >> as you were talking just then, we were showing a picture just so dark, all of the headlights on on the cars and there's a steady stream. i mean, there's just no way out of it. you're definitely sitting ducks if you're getting on that highway and the storm's coming your way. bottom line, sir, what help do you need in oklahoma city or can you handle what you've got on your plate right now? >> the type of storm we got last night is probably more typical of what we might see on an annual basis or every two or three years. this was nothing like the may 20th tornado which is an event that may have occurred once or twice in our city's history. we're recovering emotionally from the may 20th storm and physically from that storm for a long, long time. this storm if you weren't directly affected and lost a loved one, is something you'll

recover from shortly. it's not like may 20th storm. that's going to take a us while. >> mick cornett, best of luck getting through all of this. appreciate your time. new video just in, showing what st. louis residents in bordering missouri are dealing with this day. houses shred to pieces and debris littered around the perimeter. severe storms forcing officials to cancel high school graduation ceremonies scheduled for yesterday. in this week's office politics, my conversation with the "today" show's natalie moral morales. always on the go, whether taking nearly day runs exercise and stay mentally fit, crisscrossing the country, covering stories for today and that includes natural disasters like the aftermath of tornados in oklahoma. >> you don't really get it when you see it on tv you're not really getting a full picture of the devastation and people's lives, how shattered they were. when up in the air, when you see the cars twisted like basically

kids' toys that had been completely tossed to the side and trees stripped, you often hear that expression, the tree limbs were stripped of their bark, you're like, can that happen in yes, it happens. and then some. it's unbelievable the amount of destruction. it really was, as i described it on the air, like mother nature's bowling ball, took a bowling ball, threw it down a mile and a half wide, 17 miles long, that path. and everything in that path was completely gone. and just obliterated to smithereens. it's something that you when up in the air i think you appreciate the depth and the scope of the disaster more because you see how much it continues on. i had been up after hurricane sandy as well in a helicopter and saw similar destruction there much more widespread, of course. here it was pinpointed and targeted with a tornado, it really is -- it's amazing how a house on the left will be

perfectly fine and on the right it will be fine but right in the tornado's path, everything was gone. >> how do you do that? how do you go and cover a story, differentiate between what you're thinking about is happening to your own home potentially? >> i think, as a reporter, and you've been in that position as well, reporting on 9/11, when that's happening in your backyard, you're worried about your own family or your spouse, are they at work, what's going on, you have a job to do and you're so focused on the job at hand, but during commercial breaks, i was like everybody else, checking on my family, trying to get a connect, which trying call into hoboken i couldn't get a call in to hoboken. the only way i was able to finally get a hold -- i knew they were okay. i had other friends who had come into the city and said, our block did not flood, it was okay. but i think the only way i was able to finally, you know, i know they're going to be fine, i've got a job to do. i've got to do it. you have to focus. as you know, it's something that

we're trained in by sort of the nature of the job. you keep going. >> something about you that people probably know, if they don't, they're going to know it now. here we go. you are an incredible runner. >> thanks. >> you must love it. >> i love it. >> people hate it and just do it. >> i love it. therapy. i put on those running shoes and my running clothes and that is an hour of therapy. and i try to give myself that time at least four days a week. i'll go to the gym for an hour, if not run, run a half hour of the time. >> snow, rain, heat in. >> treadmill, whenever. if i can't do it outside i'll do it inside. i need it. it's for me. it's part of you know gives me oxygen. it makes me breathe better, sleep better, makes me a better mother. it makes me just better at everything that i do. very -- >> what time of day do you do that in. >> when i believe from here. i do at 2:00, 3:00 in the

afternoon. you know, for me it's all about clearing my mind. but also you know giving my body what it needs. to keep me stronger. honestly with the hours that we keep, you're up early, too. you need something to kind of keep the fuel going. keep the fire burning. that is it. >> we'll have more of our conversation tomorrow at 12:00 noon when natalie and i talk about the emotional and personal toll of covering tough stories and xekeeping her composure. the new athletic director at rutgers. the allegations against her might surprise you. [ male announcer ] this is betsy.

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story. what do you know about the meetings? >> meetings that were scheduled and the postponement of them, alex, give me a sense that they're now really rethinking the decision to hire julie hermann and backtrack and let her go or change direction. rutgers had to fire the previous athletic administration after abusive behavior by their basketball coach, mike rice, led to him being fired, led to the athletic being fired. now julie hermann is in there, she's got a record of her own which involves allegations of abuse and athletes and potential failures as athletic administrator. >> a part of sexual discrimination lawsuit. talk about allegations of emotional and verbal abuse. as i was reading through "the new york times" article they talked about 28-member panel part of the vetting process.

that all seems convoluted as well. what is rutgers thinking? >> it's tough to say. clearly, there were things they knew and didn't know. what they seemed to know about, alex, lawsuits that you mentioned. there was a sexual harassment lawsuit that was filed against louisville when julie hermann was number two in the athletic department in louisville. the allegation there's, julie hermann did not properlier. sue complaints made by a coach at louisville who said she was being discriminated against. instead that coach was fired. so a suit was brought against louisville saying she was retaliated against and julie hermann is right at the center of the suit. rutgers knew about that. he knew about a lawsuit complaint that had been filed against julie hermann when she was a coach, saying assistant coach alleged julie hermann told her not to get pregnant, it would be bad for her career to get pregnant.

two serious allegations that rutgers apparently knew about but decided to hire her anyway. >> interesting. along all of the lines, rob, despite the vote of confidence that she had gotten at least recently from rutgers' president, state lawmakers are calling hermann to step down before she officially begins. once she begins, is there nothing opponents could do to get her stripped of her job? >> i think there's always something you can do, in terms of speaking out. i think the controversy is not going to go away, alex, because the fact of the matter is, it's rutgers we're talking about with the recent history that they have had. so, this is going to continue and there's no question, if chris christie, the governor of new jersey and other politicians are weighing in on this, rutgers is a public university. there's accountability to government there. and i just find it hard to believe if chris christie decides this is not good for rutgers, for the state of new jersey, maybe not good for him politically, that this is going to stand.

i think it's going to be very hard for rutgers, for their president to continue to stand by julie hermann in the long run. >> ultimately, you say this is an athletic director. a lot of money pours in to schools like this with athletic program that was a lot of issues we talked about penn state and the scandal and loss of donations. anyone saying we may not be giving some of our alumni or athletic scholarship money to the school? >> well, it's funny that money's a big part of the reason that rutgers, a school like rutgers, wants to be in big-time college athletics, right? they get donations, television money from. rutgers is joining the big ten, they're leaving their old conference, joining the big ten, so they can get more money like this. but here you see the downside of going through that money. if you don't manage your athletic program well, you end up with headlines not for winning football games or basketball games, but headlines that you and i are talking about

right now of mismanagement, abuse, incompetence in their athletic administration. those are not the headlines that any school wants and those are the headlines rutgers is getting because of sports. >> all right. we'll see what happens here. always good to see you. the fight over the 911 call with nine days to go before the george zimmerman trial. [ female announcer ] introducing new olay fresh effects a lineup of unstoppable skincare! for whatever adventure always start fresh and finish sparkling ♪ only from new olay fresh effects.

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in today's strategy talk, president obama goes back to the economy and could attorney general eric holder derail the president's second term agenda? joining me now, karen finney, who has her very own show next week here on msnbc. and tony fratto, managing director for hamilton place strategies. so the welcome to both of you. i'll let you sit, karen, we'll be hearing a lot from all the time. just kidding. tony, i'll start with you, in president obama's weekly address, it was all about the economy. and pushing congress to get back on track. let's listen.

>> congress needs to step up and do its part. members of congress will be coming back next week for important month of work. we've got to keep the progress going until middle class families regain the sense of security we can't let partisan politics get in the way. >> if you're the president, is this a good strategy, touting genuine and positive economic news? >> look, the economy has had some marginally good news over the past few months but not so much that it's outside growth, seeing big job creation. seeing steady job creation, steady growth. the white house must think it's a good strategy because as i was listening to the address this morning, i thought there were passages and paragraphs i could have pulled out from any one of a dozen speeches or weekly aradio addresses the president has given over the past couple of years and that's the problem for the president on the

economic story. it's the same story for a few years. we're in the fifth year of the recovery. and so the same message of just it's going to get better we need a little bit more time. that's a problem for them. >> can i ask you, quick, tony, yes, you're a republican. can the greater gop body, can they deny the economy is on the upswing? >> no. >> but it you try focus on the controversies, as weave talked about last couple of weekends, that could hurt republicans, right? >> yeah, look, alex, i've been positive about the economy. i think it's actually -- it has more traction than a lot of people believe. i have been predicting, you know, stronger growth than a lot of other people have for this year. and even last year. so, look, but we can't oversell it either, right? if you look at the data, it is steady but it's still relatively low. you have some people out there, change in the context a bit where you have some people saying look, we have a great chance of getting to 7% unemployment and that will be terrific and i try to remind --

you have to remain people 7% unemployment is recessionary level. it's back to a level that was not a great level when we went into the recession. >> i want to add something here in why i think the president was talking about the economy. number one, we also saw that cbo report this week, which showed a majority of tax breaks benefit sort of the top 20% of wage earners, meaning if middle and low income people are not getting the kind of benefits that people at the top are. we also saw in the cbo report only a third of the money that's donated to charities actually goes to helping people. and that, i think, undercuts two key republican arguments. number one, charities will take up the slack, you know, in -- for government. we know that doesn't really happen. that's not really true. and the other piece, reaffirms the president's argument about not only, frankly, why we need to pass the jobs act and really make investments in creating jobs, but also this idea that we

shouldn't take anything away from people at the top to try to create a fairer system. so i just want to balance this out. i mean, i think we all can agree the economy's getting better. not at the same rate we want. the president's been honest about that. but there's additional data that point to the arguments that the -- supporting the arguments the president has made and undercutting this argument that we need more austerity. >> the economy's getting better. i'm very curious about this quinn quinnipiac poll. the numbers weren't necessarily good for the president. approval rating down three points from the beginning of the month. disapproval rating up four points. so is the strengthening economy the message that's not getting through and rather all of the swirling controversy, is that the message that's getting through? >> i think that may well be. also in that same poll, i think it was 73% of americans want everybody to get back to talking about and dealing with jobs and the economy. they don't want to be talking

about these various quote/unquote scandals, despite how they feel about the scandals. that's the other piece of the president's strategy, what he's trying to do, refocus on a message about the economy and jobs and the need to spend more time focused on that because that's what americans want. >> tony, i'm curious. i want to ask quickly about attorney general eric holder. how much do you think political hay republicans can make of the controversy without it looking like political mudslinging? latest poll show americans prefer working on the economy and not launching into investigations. >> americans never want to see congress spending time on investigations. but they have that -- they have that responsibility and obligation to do. congress investigated president bush and various, you know, issues in the bush administration. it's going to happen in this congress also. that's part of the job of congress to do that. and -- but americans don't like to see conflict in washington.

it turns them off. there's no question about that. but it is going to get done. and in the case of attorney general holder, he continues to, you know, step on things that create controversy for himself and we saw it just this past week with, you know, the off the record meeting to talk about, you know, the problems with looking at reporters' e-mail records, not understanding the irony in that that a lot of people in the news media saw but they have to be dealt with. >> i think the issue that the data tells us is that what americans want when you have a third of the committees in congress doing some kind of investigation and 73% of americans are saying, jobs and the economy is what we want you focusing on, part of the problem, tony, that is when you then also we can't get a conference committee without a precondition -- i've never heard of such a thing -- to talk about the budget. we can't get the jobs act. things not happening versus so much attention publicly paid to

scandals, that's what people are reacting to. >> the case of the budget, that's always been the case with every conference committee -- >> we never had a situation with a hostage taking precondition requirement before they will sit down and talk. >> i disagree. >> i'm hoping you don't have nick in your ear got to go, got to wrap, on your show next weekend. see you for officic politics this week. the tornadoes in oklahoma that hit too close to home. severe weather threat shifted on saturday. it moving out of areas like oklahoma city, k. kansas city into omaha. shifting to the east. areas that need to be alert, on possibility of strong, damaging winds, hail, tornadoes, dallas, little rock, memphis, kentucky, western and eastern portions of

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it is the day after, and tornado-racked oklahoma dealing with the ravages of widespread flooding. for many residents the grim search of their ruined homes begins amid reality of the storm's enormity. >> turn the car around! let's get ready! >> right there. >> large tornado right there.

>> terrifying close call for a w. channel crew when they couldn't escape a tornado's fury. coming up, new concerns about medicare. one lawmaker says obama care is helping to save it. and new call for more cuts on capitol hill that could put a stop to other trimming in the capitol. hello, everyone, welcome to "weekends with alex witt." past 1:00 p.m. in the east, 10:00 a.m. out west. a day after another round of deadly tornados in oklahoma the focus is on flooding. kfor says historic flooding is a serious concern for the area right now. and the aerial video's going to show how widespread it is. many drivers were caught off guard when the storms rolled through friday during rush hour. a lot of people had to be rescued. >> power lines are down, trees in the middle of the road, flooded up to your waist. it's all bad. >> a lot of trees down. just destruction everywhere.

>> well the twister killed at least nine people and hurt dozens more. more than 90,000 people in the state are without power now. and here's new video taking a short time ago. it shows some of the damage the area's dealing with in the aftermath of the tornados. look at those homes, businesses, damaged or destroyed. as the storm system moved west, missouri got slammed. here's new video of damaged homes in the st. louis area. missouri's governor has already declared a state of emergency. let's go to nbc's mark potter standing by in union city, an area hard hit by the storm. with a good day to you, mark, we are seeing devastating pictures coming in and we know there's a mother and baby killed in the suv found on a highway in union city. what do you know about that and what's going on the ground there? >> reporter: a number of people killed in vehicles on the highway, right out that way, they got trapped on the road when the hurricane came tlur -- excuse me, the tornado came through. this is the same storm system

that did this damage to. what we can tell, this is the neighborhood probably that was hardest hit by the outbreak of tornadoes yesterday. it's in union city, west of oklahoma city. off highway 81. ten houses out here and all of them have been badly damaged. some of them have been flattened. it's just incredible to see what a tornado can do. and it's all right there with a trailer, motorcycle, home, all knocked down by that storm. it started around dinner time when warnings started to come in. most of the residents fled. they went south to get out of here. the tornado came through, pulverized the homes. residents tried to come back. and then chased away again by a second tornado that came through the area and then when they came back finally, later last night, this is what they saw and this is what sun up today revealed. a lot of sad stories here. there's a woman on the street off to my left who lost the home

where she raised her kids. there's another family just around the corner that lost some of the horses that they're raising. another woman who is pregnant, lost her house, it was absolutely flattened. some friend there's today trying to pick up baby clothes, anything they could salvage. that woman is in the hospital, about to give birth. she's there for that reason. but also, for shelter. she just has no other -- certainly no home to go back to. the damage this time was not nearly as widespread and as dramatic as in the moore incident. but in this area, it's the same sort of thing for these families who are going to have to try to rebuild. cleanup is under way. but when you ask some of them what you're going to do next, they say we just don't know, it's too early, we have no idea. >> yeah. and that woman, the one we reported about the mom and her baby killed in the suv, was that far from where you are in union

city? >> reporter: i'm going to turn around and look. i think -- i'm not sure if i can see highway 40 out there, we came along it earlier today and we saw -- we saw some trucks that had been turned over. they were riding those trucks again. the problem that is people were out there on the road, they didn't know what was coming and got trapped. we've seen that in hurricanes in the past. it's happened here again. and a number of people killed, we're told, were killed in their vehicles. a vehicle doesn't stand a chance against a tornado. >> it sure doesn't. you mentioned hurricanes. today is the official start of the hurricane season. wow. okay, mark potter, thank you. one reporter with the weather channel and his team had quite the frightening run-in with one of the tornados. mike bettis and his crew covering the storm in oklahoma when a tornado crossed their path. >> hold on, brothers. hold on. everybody go.

keep it going, if you company everybody duck down. everybody duck down. >> you're seeing it for yourself. twister threw their vehicle 200 yards off the roadway and on to a field. mike says he and his crew suffered minor injuries but says they will be okay. >> i don't know what to say. i'm speechless. that was the scariest moment of my life. i've never been through anything like it before. my life flashed before my eyes. we were floating and we were tumbling. we tumbled i don't know how many times. at least six, eight times we tumbled. we were airborne at one point. we floating and not tumbling and we came down hard. >> those seat belts were vital then. there were several storm chasers out during the storm friday, each dot on the map represents a different storm chaser during the height of the storm. joining me now, janis huff.

with a good day to you. pretty shaken looking at all of the video. >> it is. >> worst of the storm, is over? >> depends where you are, alex. for most of oklahoma and kansas, severe threat is over. still residual effects from the flooding in many areas. but that line is finally moving out of oklahoma. however, it's moving east and south towards other areas that are now in the line of fire. dallas, up towards memphis, bowling green, paducah, kentucky, flash flooding, first of all. that's the biggest problem you see. storms are very slow moving, the line is slow moving. so the likelihood of flooding will exist for these areas. we had a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for memphis about a half hour ago. for damaging winds and hail. that has since expired. but look at all of the lightning strikes extending through arkansas into memphis, western tennessee. northwestern mississippi, also we'll see severe weather today. here's a look at the areas at risk. it extends from central texas

near the rio grande all the way across the mid mississippi river valley, tennessee river valley and towards cleveland. this is the area that could see a slight risk of severe weather today, meaning damaging winds, threat of large hail and maybe some isolated tornadoes. they would be fewer today but still a chance that a few of those could pop up. that line moves east tomorrow. so the area that would be at risk would be across new england. down towards albany. new york city. philadelphia, baltimore, washington, d.c., the northeast corridor will be a part of that tomorrow, damaging winds a bigger threat. the biggest threat would be isolated tornados much they may see today. and flash flooding as well. the system will move offshore monday morning and finally starting to dry out in most locations. speaking of flooding, the flood warnings in effect for the mississippi river major flooding expected there.

near st. louis. the top six of all time flood, forecast for the st. louis area right along the mississippi. and not long ago, maybe just a couple of monthsing a, they were talking about a drought on parts of the mississippi river. but that's not the case now. flooding is lookly. and it will be record. it crests tuesday at 40.8 feet in st. louis, back to you. >> thank you for the heads up on that. wnbc, janis huff. i'll talk with a storm chase who are jeopardized his life to get video over the tornado. didn't know what he was getting himself into. new today, president obama calling on congress to take action to boost the economy. in his weekly address today he touted almost 7 million jobs and shrirpging deficit but says congress needs to do more. >> just got to keep going because we've got more good jobs to create. we've got more kids to educate. we've got more doors of opportunity to open for anyone who is willing to work hard enough to walk through those doors.

>> president obama also said congress should put more americans to work. rebuilding all of the crumbling bridges you see the one that collapsed last week. medicare, a new report shows medicare's funding will run out by 2026, two years later than expected. social security funds run out as the same time as projected next year. i spoke with john yarmuth who says obama care is the reason for medicare's extend life. >> reduced cost by $600 billion over the next ten years. some other reforms roll out, repla replace fee for service, paid for service rather than overall treatment plan we can extend the life of medicare longer. >> joining me now, lauren fox and msnbc contributor and editor turiaf the grio, perry bacon jr.

medicare, is it fair to say president obama's health care bill is extendingite life? >> it's not totally fair just the health care law it sell. a lot of evidence in private and public insurance that health care costs are -- rising costs is slowing more than in the past because of reforms in the health care law. health insurance companies and doctors and other things, there's more efficiencies in the health care system happening broadly. that's meaning that health care costs are rising at a slower pace than before. they're still ride, just not at the pace they were before. there's more solvency for a few more years than in medicare. >> what are the trustees who issued the report warned it's getting late in the game to deal with social security. what is going on to put both programs on a stronger footing? >> one of the arguments that has come out for republicans is,

look, nothing has changed here with social security. paul ryan sent out a statement yesterday that said it's time to get to work, do some kind of privatization of social security. democrats are resistant to that. the white house saying affordable care act is going to help with medicare costs going up. so maybe what we've been doing is going to work. bernie sanders warned, an independent senator from vermont, let's not mess with social security, let's not deal with chained cpi, a controversial issue for democrats, we're on the right track. seeing tug-of-war. republicans want to use the report to say we need to do more. democrats say we are doing the rig things. >> i want to switch gears and talk about attorney general eric holder and get your take on this. in the past couple of days there have been several calls for holder to resign. how long can the president keep supporting eric holder? perry? that's to you.

>> perry's not hearing anything. lauren, have you heard the question? what do you think? >> i think one of the difficulties with president obama's position here is that, obviously, attorney general holder has been meeting with some of the groups and has said we're going to look at our policies and investigating reporters and subpoenaing records, e-mails of reporters and have those to you by july 12th. there's a lot of reporters coming out of the meetings saying it's not enough for us. there's a bunch of controversies swirling around the attorney generaling. it tough for the white house to be supporting him but the president say he's confident in his position. >> something you wrote about senator tom coburn, wants bite te te -- belt tightening. haircuts, what is that in. >> i don't know if you have ever gotten your haircut at the russell senate hair care area

but you can get cheap services, alex. get your nails down, you can get haircuts starting at $20. some folks are saying that's too low. this program loses at least $300,000 every year. taxpayers are subsidizing some costs. there has been movement to cut costs. people have taken buy-out whose are hairdressers there. a lot of areas on capitol hill, there's life improvement classes for staffers. tom coburn says, guys, if rest of the country's pinching pennies, we should be looking at cuts on capitol hill. >> okay. that's an interesting story you've got there. lauren fox, thank you so much. perry bacon jr., can you hear me? i guess he's out of it. what are you going to do. with the trial of george zimmerman day as way a 911 call at the shooting is at the heart of the legal tug-of-war. how key is it? ale announcer ] citi is over 200 years old. in that time there've been some good days.

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the long-awaited murder trial of george zimmerman scheduled to begin a week from monday. another pretrial june 6th. the key issue whether a voice heard in the background of the call on the day of the shooting belonged to 17-year-old trayvon martin and if the audio will be admissible at trial. >> i think they're yelling help but i don't know. just send someone, quick, please. >> does he look hurt to you? >> i can't see him. i don't want to go out there. i don't know what's going on. >> they're sending. >> you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> what is your number? >> there's gunshots. >> scary, right? joining me to put this into

perspective, former prosecutor wendy murphy and analyst kendall coffey. wendy, that disturbing 911 call, it? used. evidence. was experts that that's what they believe as well. the defense will say, no, that was george zimmerman. frankly, i think the defense is glad to have the jury figure it out for itself. i'm not sure we can get a definitive answer to the question. you know whose voice is that and

going witnesses who say i believe that was his voice. >> so, kendall, what is the best strategy for the defense to try to keep this from the jury? >> well, the defense is going to argue that it's a new technology, that there is not sufficient scientific accept 'for the kind of technology, the expert testimony that the prosecution is relying on heavily. i think this is critical evidence for the prosecution. they need to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that those were the cries of trayvon martin, if in fact they want to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that george zimmerman committed the crime of second-degree murder. among the many wests and turns into the case is that, in florida, the standard for whether you admit evidence based on new technology may be about to change as of july 1. one of the many extraordinary issues that this judge has to sort out in this extraordinary

trial. >> absolutely extraordinary is the word. wendy, zimmerman's attorney mark o'mara appeared thursday on politics nation with reverend al sharpton. here's part of the conversation. >> there's no evidence that the state had. i asked the investigator at the april 20th hearing way in the beginning, do you have any evidence to support that george zimmerman continued to pursue trayvon martin and he said no. i also asked the question, do you have any evidence to suggest it was george zimmerman who began the physical confrontation and there's no evidence to that. obviously a gap of evidence or information. we won't know, there was no videotape, we'll never know precisely what happened. >> on the heels of that zimmerman is the only person at trial? witnesses

really is an important question here. as a matter of law, if george zimmerman was not doing something physically harmful to trayvon martin, trayvon martin could not have had a legal justification for the physical aggression against george zimmerman, include what we know did happen, the slamming of george zimmerman's head on cement that produced injuries worthy of stitches. so, unless -- i mean i really think, as much as i'm trying to be the prosecution voice here, i really think this is a very strong defense case for self-defense no matter what we think about the stand your ground law, which we know was arguments available during trial. i think the defense has a winnable case. >> do you agree with that, kendall? >> i don't think it's an easy

case for the prosecution, by any measure. of course they considered all of the issues when they brought very aggressive charge, second-degree murder. i agree with wendy, it's not easy. that's why the prosecution really needs to hit a home run on the scientific for ennic evidence to show cries for help, the cries of the true victim, as the prosecution would portray it is is the cries of trayvon martin. beyond that george zimmerman being untruthful, inconsistent, changing his story in significant respects if the jury concludes that george zimmerman was lying about some of the details about what really happened that night, that's conduct that suggests guilt and that could be a vital component of what the prosecution would need in order to get a conviction here. >> you know, kendall, talk about the aggressive nature of the prosecution's gone after zimmerman for second-degree murder charges. do you think the prosecution in all of its exhaustive research maybe has something we don't

know about that would support their going after aggressively? >> hard to think there's a smoking gun or surprise witness. the process in florida of discovery in criminal cases, florida's unique in allowing depositions in a criminal case. florida's a sunshine state when it comes to weather and court proceedings. i think we know virtually all of the important prosecution evidence. not the strategies, not how they're going to put it together. but certainly the testimony and the documents. i do think that the pivotal thing may turn out to be george zimmerman himself. so many cases of self-defense with the defendant has to take the stand. it becomes a one witness trial. jury believes george zimmerman, he walks. if they don't, something else could happen. >> what about with zimmerman allegations up? why should we also know about trayvon martin's

he recent cell phone activity with text messages about -- >> which won't be admissible. >> -- fighting and guns. in past? person what you're what moment. pat. i agree with kendall, there's no smoking gun. i don't think there's a warm slingshot. george zimmerman defense case. facing physical aggression lethal force. injuries, a the of injuries on his body, and then he pulls the gun. i don't see how the defense can lose. >> okay. wendy murphy, kendall coffey, thank you. i should add that george zimmerman is suing nbc universal

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." half past the hour. the fire chief in houston says the four firefighters killed in the hotel blaze risked their lives because they thought more people were in the building. the cause of the fire unknown. in phoenix, four people are dead after two small planes collided in midair. the cause of that accident still unknown. overseas, police in turkey withdrawn from a park in instant bull to allow protesters to move. earlier today protester fought with police to get into the square to fight against the proposed plans for the park. chuck hagel spoke in singapore issuing a stern warning to china over cyberattacks. we all survived without a scratch, the long, anticipated asteroid with earth, coming with 3.5 million miles.

45 million miles away next time. in just a moment, the defense between those driving away from the oklahoma tornadoes and those who chased them. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently

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and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." 34 past the hour, after another round of deadly tornadoes, parts of oklahoma are dealing with severe flooding. here's new video from oklahoma city. it shows extent of the flooding across the region. many areas completely submerged. several drivers caught up in the floodwaters after the storm system unleashed heavy rains friday. some managed to escape their cars and walk to safety, others had to be rescued. officials say the flooding danger is not over. as some people will likely think before they hit the road next time, storm chases are risked their lives to capture every second on tape. check out this video showing the massive tornado touching down. frightening stuff to be that close. join me by phone, outside oklahoma city, reid timer, the

meteorologist and storm chase who are captured this footage here. reid, with a good day to you, talk about what it was like driving through that storm yesterday. what was going through your mind? >> well, we have been doing this for 16 years and we have custom-built vehicles designed to get close to tornadoes for scientific purposes and document tornadoes from a unique perspective. when you're close, our goal is to measure the wind speed and pressure falls inside and vehicles have hydraulics and spike systems so if we get into the past, we have trust in the engineering of the vehicle that will be okay. yesterday, i felt relatively safe, completely safe, in the vehicle. only on a handful of occasions i fell my life was at risk, early on, ten years ago, during a hydroplaning accident. no storm chaser so far has ever lost their life directly from a storm chase. that's a good thing.

>> yes, it is. when you talk about the information, scientific information you're trying to gather. is the only way to do that by getting that close with the car? >> if you're far away from the data, only data you can collect is high up in the tornado. the mystery behind tornado science, this is what happened what happens here the ground, it's inside the vortices that you see and that's when the vortex interactions with friction. vortex breakdown, there are theorys that show wind speeds could be 400, 500 miles per hour. our goal is high resolution radar and air system and pressure sensor to get up close to the tornadoes so you measure and sample the wind near the ground because it's that wind that causes the loss of life and property. when it's above the ground it's trivial in terms of time. >> reed, you see on other storm chaser video massive pieces of debris heading right towards those cars.

how do you determine what road to go down that will avoid that because that can kill you. >> you know, you definitely have to have the experience, i think, when you are close to tornadoes. they can have erratic paths. i have even seen people, storm chasers, chased for 20 years that preached safety their whole lives almost killed by tornadoes as well. you know, that's one with our armored vehicle, one thing we don't have to worry. unless it's too strong. but in that case we'll stay back. you can look at storm structure, like, for example, i'll look straight up and there's a thing called a clear spot cut that cuts through the mezzo cyclone, when i look up i can see the cylinder, the extent and the width of the tornado. you can gather if a tornado's going to wobble, how big it's going to get, if it's going to get smaller or multiple vortex

tornado. the visual part of storm chasing is very important. >> listening to you, you know your stuff. i'm going to tell everybody else, don't try to do what reed timer is doing. thanks so much. stay safe. >> will do thanks for having me. >> for more video of the outbreak of tornados in oklahoma ander the storm is heading, go to weather.com. our three big money headlines. one, rates have changed. two, numbers bracket. three, out of sight, out of mind. joining me, forbes staff writer, morgan brennan. mortgage rates at highest more than a year, right? >> they are, 3.8% for 30-year fixed mortgage. that's at, as you mentioned, highest it rate we've seen in a year. they're still historically speaking very, very low. housing data up, new home sales, existing home sales, new contracts on homes expected to close in one to two months. home prices are up.

it's safe to say we're in the throes of the housing recovery. the big question here will be, whether those mortgage rates continue to climb. particularly in the short term. it's a big reason that we've seen home buyers going out and buying homes in larger numbers. the federal reserve is going to play a big part and whether they continue their $85 billion a month bond buying program. if they pull back, rates continue to climb. numbers are still good. i would jump in right now. >> also hearing from -- that the wealthy are ones that benefit most from top tax breaks, true? >> true, true. highest income and lowest income americans in terms of household income benefit the most from the top ten u.s. tax breaks. we're seeing this based off of a report from the congressional budget office. and actually when you break those numbers down further, as far as net income, off of the tax breaks the top 1% gets 13% of income in relation to the tax breaks.

that number is a big reason. we're continuing to see tax debates happen. to be completely fair, some of the breaks are due to charitable donations, also due to health-care related tax breaks for employers. this is an issue we're going to continue to see play out. i think the biggest takeawaying middle income americans get the least amount of tax breaks from our current tax code. that's a big issue. >> sure is. tell us about this new smoking ban that starbucks is pushing. goes into effect, what, today? >> goes into effect today. for the folks who like a cigarette with their coffee, be forewarned, starbucks is rolling out the ban at their 7,000-plus stores in the u.s. and canada. in addition to not being able to smoke in their outdoor patio areas, within 25 feet of starbucks locations, cigarette smokers are not able to light up. that's local laws pending, you know, according what the local governments have to say about

that. but the idea here is that consumers have been lobbying since 2009 to see starbucks put these type of policies in action. i think this is a really interesting thing to continue to tune into because this is the first time we've seen a large-scale retail chain implement policies around a topic that are typically left to local governments. this will be interesting to see whether others adopt it. >> on a personal note, i'll all for it. i go on record as that. my dad's a doctor, what can i say? thank you. "meet the press" has eric holder calming the storm over the leaks probe by meeting with journalists. with an irregula. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin,

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oh, sorry. (woman vo) it takes him places he's always wanted to go. that's why we bought a subaru. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. i've always had to keep my eye on her... but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. it's time for the big three. on the record, burning questions, and best week, worst week. let's bring in the panel. editor yoof citizen jane politi,

patricia murphy, morris reid, and susan dell persio. >> alex. >> what's with you and paris? you get there often as i get there to the dry-cleaners. back in paris again. >> it's not just cleveland. i keep getting it mixed up, paris, cleveland, sorry. >> i'm going to like paris is the good one. don't tell that to nick, from cleveland. eric holder, as you know, met with a small group of journalists thursday. addressing the department's broad reaching tactics to get information and pinpointing individuals who leaked information in the media. "usa today"'s susan page attended the meeting. we spoke last hour. here what happens she told me. >> this was more a discussion about whether the guidelines at department of justice uses in dealing cases involving the news media, whether they need to be updated and whether the requirement for advanced notice of news organizations before subpoenas are executed needs to be tightened.

so that was the thrust of the conversation. >> so your take on the attorney general is, what. >> i think he's trying to get his handles around this. this has not been a particularly good week or good month for him. he's trying to really distance himself from the situation, saying it's not me, it's the process. so if you go and gather a group of people, talk about the process, pin the issue on them. but i think he's trying to distance himself and really fix this so when the next attorney general comes in, that person doesn't have to deal with this. this hasn't been a great time for eric holder. he has to address this as quickly as possible. >> is he trying to get this figured out so the next attorney general doesn't come in really soon, i.e., he loses his job? >> i think he's trying to get this figured out, deal with his legacy. there have been a lot of controversies around eric holder, who is a terrific lawyer and a friend, but i think he's trying to address this as quickly as possible. this is one of the major issues

for the president. this is about asserting leadership. this business making sure he doesn't have to roll out of the job any sooner than he would like. we need to address this so no other attorney general has to deal with this. >> we have to be honest here. if this happened to the george w. bush attorney general, for example, wouldn't republicans be saying, national security trumps everything so there was a justification here? >> i don't think so. i actually think what's leading most of this right now is the press themselves. i mean, quite a few media outlets refused to attend the meeting with eric holder. >> including nbc news. >> including nbc news, rightfully so. how can you trust someone who is going to let you only go off the record. it's part of the bigger problem here, that is he got caught trying to criminalize reporting. now he's got to back pedal. seems to be overail problem for the administration as far as how they even release information. right now that is one of eric holder's biggest problems.

the fact is, he's also supposed to -- wanted to leave for the second term, so it's going to be harder for him now to leave this position without a bigger shadow. >> in all fairness, initially this was an off the record meeting. nbc news chose not to attend prior to the meeting, it was on the record. that's why we had susan page be being able to give us information. >> eric holder reiterated his support of the federal shield law. what did thursday's meeting accomplish? >> i would say the thursday's meeting accomplished very little in real terms. i have to say the administration pushing for a shield law to shield reporters from their on actions is pretty rich. and i think the administration's going to learn that, as goes your press, so goes your presidency, members of the media have been, i think, not as skeptical as they could have been. once the administration has done

to them what they've done to other people i think that they are going get a more skeptical street. they need to get their arms around their problems with the press as soon as possible so they can start to deal with their other problems because their media treatment is going to have a lot to do with how they can work through those other messes. >> okay. i'll stay with you, as we get to our next topic, burning question -- >> quickly, alex, also -- >> yeah. >> i was going to say, this is also the administration -- this is first time the press is pissed at president. my colleague as degree, nothing is off the record. when you talk to a reporter expect they'll use the information because they have a job to do. >> you're reporting to a -- speaking to a reporter off the record to get a story. >> this administration routinely, i think abuses off the record conversations. they will put something off the record immediately when it is not controversy. is it not controversial who says

it, the information is just to get very basic scheduling facts out. they put everything off the record. i think they abuse it. i think the presidents had a problem with the administration for some time and now they're starting to really reap what they've sewn. >> now reap what they have sown. >> the burping questions, too early, because let's listen to ann romney giving a new interview this week. here it s >> i think there's breach of trust that we as all americans feel with our government f we look at the three scandals going on right now, and in particular, i saw the polling numbers with the -- how people are upset with the irs scandal, is we have to have trust in our government. we have to believe that they are doing right for us. we feel like they are breaking our trust, it's deeply troubling. >> patricia, too early for the romneys to resurface? you think the public wants to hear from them after the last election? >> for the romneys themselves, i don't think they have a future in politics unless one of the five boys wants to run, they

can't damage their brand further than they have by talking too soon. is it too soon? yes. people didn't trust nut last election, that's why you didn't win. thyic for republicans, way too soon for the romneys, like to close the chapter on the last election, move forward to some of the rising stars, there are a number of them. love for the romneys not to be dragging us took 2012, which did not go well for them. >> okay. morris, how about to, the never enough here. a new political article is saying that house majority leader eric cantor sent a memo to fellow republicans pledging not to let up on the trio of obama administration scandals. do you mind, morris, if republicans keep hammering away at the president? doesn't it seem to only hurt the gop in the end? >> well, listen, they smell blood and there's blood in the water. so like any political hound dog, you start to go after it. so, i can't fault these guys for going after this -- these matters because they think they have a winning issue. they are back on their heels and now they feel like they can lean forward, if you will. i think that the republicans

have to find an issue to tarnish and bring the president down. the president and his administration isn't helping by having the scandals, they need to get their act together, its republicans are doing the right thing, particularly in the oversight position, a fair thing to do if we were democrats, we would be doing the same thing. >> okay. susan, i'm going to hold my question for you, get in a very quick break, but the question is going to be not soon enough? i will let you think about that because we have the best and worst of the week. to manage pla. that means your smartphone, her blackberry, his laptop, mark's smartphone but i'm still on vacation. still on the plan. nice! so is his tablet, that guy's hotspot, the intern's tablet-- the intern gets a tablet? everyone's devices. his, hers-- oh, sorry. all easier to manage on the share everything plan for small business. connecting more so you can do more. that's powerful. verizon. get the blackberry z10 for $199.99.

we are gonna get to the big 3s best and worst of the week, back to you, susan, the question not soon enough about michele bachmann deciding not run for re-election s she doing the gop a favor really? or could there have been a legitimate future for her in the party? >> as patricia said, it was too early for romney to come back into republican parties and as far as michele bachmann goes she can't leave soon enough, as far as i'm concerned. she is not healthy for the party. she wanted to be destructive and make a name for herself,

frankly. i think she thinks maybe she could do some -- very well on cable television or something. but i'm just happy she won't be there to be the lightning rod that hurts the republican party, frankly. >> as we get to your best and worst, since wary light lil tight on time, not go through your worse, it is eric holder we discussed them what about your best? >> senator mark pryor from arkansas. he really came out aggressive on his pro -- rather he came out against background checks on guns and ran an ad this week that got so much national attention for doing it and really prevented people from defining him. so i think did he a really good job, regardless of where you stand on the issue of defining himself. >> morris, yours, best and worst? >> my best week is jamie dimon. this guy is a real boss. looking at a star on wall street it is jamie die month. i can't believe he survived it and going to ride it to the bank. my worst week is the russians. what in the world is going on with them saying they want peace

but they are shipping arms to syria? this is gonna have far-reaching implication and i think the wrong side of history here dealing with syria. >> patricia, how about yours? >> my worst, erick erickson for saying that working moms are antette threat cal to naturer. i'm the daughter of an amazing work, mom, i'm a working mom. if anything is antithetical it is a caveman. >> patricia murphy, susan dell percent yoerks morris reid, thank you so much, guys. got to quickly wrap up "weekends with alex witt." up next, craig mel virngs he is in the chair. he wants me out of mine. see you later. there. i knew devry university would give me the skills that i needed to make one of those tech jobs mine. we teach cutting-edge engineering technology, computer information systems, networking and communications management -- the things that our students need to know in the world today. our country needs more college grads to help fill all the open technology jobs. to help meet that need, here at devry university, we're offering $4 million dollars in tech scholarships

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